Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27558841›Full record

ReviewGlycobiology2017

Biological roles of glycans.

Ajit Varki

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Glycobiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1,130 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1,130citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1,130 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Unraveling the Glycosylation Machinery ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. ADAR RNA editing for cardiovascular disease: TargetingMolecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2026
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Automating Model Building for SPM Images of Biomolecules Using MISO.Journal of chemical information and modeling · 2026
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Cracking the code to O-GlcNAcylation networks.Nature chemical biology · 2026
    Article
  20. Review

1,070 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Ajit VarkiDepartments of Medicine and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, Glycobiology Research and Training Center, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0687, USA a1varki@ucsd.edu.

Funding

Siglec Modulation of Inflammatory ResponsesP01HL107150 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI LE, DZUNG T · 2011 to 2017
$18.0M
BIOSYNTHESIS AND REGULATION OF SUBSTITUTED SIALIC ACIDSR01GM032373 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI VARKI, AJIT P · 1985 to 2022
$6.9M
Sialoglycan-Recognizing Probes for Defining Sialoglycomes in Biological SystemsU01CA199792 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI VARKI, AJIT P · 2015 to 2017
$1.9M
NCI NIH HHS U01 CA199792NHLBI NIH HHS P01 HL107150NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM032373
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Simple and complex carbohydrates (glycans) have long been known to play major metabolic, structural and physical roles in biological systems. Targeted microbial binding to host glycans has also been studied for decades. But such biological roles can only explain some of the remarkable complexity and organismal diversity of glycans in nature. Reviewing the subject about two decades ago, one could find very few clear-cut instances of glycan-recognition-specific biological roles of glycans that were of intrinsic value to the organism expressing them. In striking contrast there is now a profusion of examples, such that this updated review cannot be comprehensive. Instead, a historical overview is presented, broad principles outlined and a few examples cited, representing diverse types of roles, mediated by various glycan classes, in different evolutionary lineages. What remains unchanged is the fact that while all theories regarding biological roles of glycans are supported by compelling evidence, exceptions to each can be found. In retrospect, this is not surprising. Complex and diverse glycans appear to be ubiquitous to all cells in nature, and essential to all life forms. Thus, >3 billion years of evolution consistently generated organisms that use these molecules for many key biological roles, even while sometimes coopting them for minor functions. In this respect, glycans are no different from other major macromolecular building blocks of life (nucleic acids, proteins and lipids), simply more rapidly evolving and complex. It is time for the diverse functional roles of glycans to be fully incorporated into the mainstream of biological sciences.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularAnimalsGlycosylationHumansLipidsNucleic AcidsPolysaccharidesProteinsLipidsNucleic AcidsPolysaccharidesProteinsbiological rolesevolutionglycans

Identifiers

PMID27558841
PMCPMC5884436

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.